


Freeze-Frame, Pause, Rewind, Stop

by hope_s



Series: Beautiful Trauma [7]
Category: Ocean's 8 (2018)
Genre: Confessions, Developing Relationship, F/F, Film Timeline, Light Angst, Mentions of Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Missing Scene, POV Lou, Post-Beach, Reconciliation, Reconciliation Sex, Smut, Songfic, Strap-Ons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-10-02 00:35:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20450573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hope_s/pseuds/hope_s
Summary: "You frame him, I walk..."Lou doesn't regret what she said on the beach, but she's surprised at the anxiety in Debbie's eyes as she tries to convince Lou to stay. She listens as Debbie painstakingly explains her entire plan. Debbie is uncertain, and - more surprisingly - Debbie is scared.There's much that goes unsaid between them, much that Lou herself isn't quite ready to say. But Debbie asks to be reminded of what she would miss if she got thrown back in the slammer, and though she can't quite find the words to tell her yet, Lou *can* show her...





	Freeze-Frame, Pause, Rewind, Stop

**Author's Note:**

> P!nk: Beautiful Trauma  
(2017)  
Track 8 - For Now
> 
> ...
> 
> Freeze frame, pause, rewind, stop  
And get back to the older familiar thoughts  
Can we just freeze frame, pause, rewind, stop  
And get back to the feelings we think we lost  
For now
> 
> Oh, I'm so goddamn mean  
'Cause I-I-I say and I do things that I shouldn't sometimes  
My mouth gets me in trouble all the time
> 
> But now it's like I lied  
When I said I didn't need you  
I die if you'd left I'd never be alright  
Can we just get it right somehow  
For now
> 
> Freeze frame, pause, rewind, stop  
And get back to the older familiar thoughts  
Can we just freeze frame, pause, rewind, stop  
And get back to the feelings we think we lost  
For now, for now
> 
> Can we just freeze frame, pause, rewind, stop  
And get back to the feelings we think we lost  
For now
> 
> Remember that time we were just kickin'  
But nothing had changed, nothing was really different  
Then love showed its teeth like it was something vicious  
No, no, no, let me finish  
For now
> 
> ...
> 
> (April 2018)

Lou listened.

Lou listened, and she watched – watched the tension ripple in Debbie’s shoulders as she finally, painstakingly told Lou the entire plan. Her own words echoed in her head: _You frame him, I walk. _She didn’t regret her outburst. She wasn’t sure the words had been true, but the sentiment was real. The anger that had ebbed slightly when Debbie agreed to tell her the whole story was still there, deep in her bones. It kept her sitting stiffly in her chair, resting her chin on her entwined fingers and watching Debbie. Debbie fidgeted, and Lou sat still as a statue. It was an utter reversal of their usual behavior, and that fact calmed Lou, made her believe they could maybe, _maybe_ fix this.

“Claude isn’t the priority,” Debbie said, “I promise.”

Lou raised her eyebrows. “What is it about him?” she asked quietly, sternly. It was the first question she had asked in minutes, and she could tell it made Debbie pause.

“What do you mean?” Debbie asked, eyes narrowed and concerned.

“Why can’t you just…I don't know…let him go? Why can’t being _free – _and being free of _him_ – be enough, Debbie?”

Debbie grimaced. Her lips formed a thin line. “I don’t know.” If it hadn’t been for the tension in Debbie’s jaw that betrayed her honesty, the words would have stirred Lou’s anger. As it was, the evident truth of Debbie’s statement made Lou pause. There was something about Claude that Debbie wasn’t telling her, that much was obvious, but perhaps that _something_ was incomprehensible, even to Debbie herself.

“What _do _you know, Debs?” Lou asked finally.

Debbie’s brow knitted once as though she was remembering something unpleasant. “I know he hurt me,” Debbie said in a voice barely above a whisper. “It’s not…not clear to me _how_…I…”

“You _really _don’t know…” Lou marveled. Perhaps _that _was why Debbie had been so determined to track her down after their argument on the beach. Debbie was uncharacteristically uncertain. Lou had to admit she was impressed that Debbie had followed her all the way here to the club. It wasn’t a short walk from the loft, and the weather was less than perfect. “You really don’t know,” Lou repeated musingly, almost to herself.

Debbie managed half of a self-deprecating smile. “I _really _don’t. All I know is…” She sucked in her breath and let it out slowly. “…someone is going to jail for this job. It _can’t_ be one of us, not even Daphne Kluger. He makes sense. He _deserves _it. I’m _sure _of that, even if I haven’t really processed what…what happened.”

Lou gave Debbie a small nod, and the tiny motion seemed to help Debbie to relax just a little. Debbie’s admission that she hadn’t – and perhaps _couldn’t _– process the past (not _yet_, anyway) surprised Lou more than anything Debbie had said thus far. While they were both aware that Debbie wasn’t particularly emotionally aware of herself, it took a lot for her to admit when she couldn’t sort something out. “Must have been bad,” Lou noted.

“It wasn’t _good_,” Debbie said with the hint of a smirk.

Lou rolled her eyes. They sat in silence for a minute. The tension between them still crackled, but it was no longer close to a breaking point. 

“We have to frame _someone_, Lou,” Debbie said, her face serious once more. “I…to be honest, I didn’t think you would be surprised.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me, Debs?” Lou asked, almost pleadingly. Debbie looked at her over the papers piled between them. Lou’s office at the club had fallen into disarray during her weeks away, but Lou was somewhat glad of the barrier between them today. It gave her an excuse to keep Debbie at a distance, just for a little while, until this was behind them.

“I didn’t want to tell _anyone_, Lou,” Debbie said, “but Tammy had to suggest him to Vogue. I told her the bare minimum of what happened, when she asked – way less than I just told you. She needed to know the basics, because she was _there_, Lou…” Debbie’s voice rose slightly with emotion. “She was _there_ back then, when I was…working with him.” _When you were gone._ Lou heard the words, though Debbie didn’t say them. “She needed to be careful around him, but I _swear_, Lou,” Debbie went on. Her voice shook with suppressed emotion. “I _swear _I only told her because I had to. I…I’m…” She looked at Lou pleadingly with unshed tears hovering in her eyes.

Lou sighed heavily as the realization hit her, and suddenly Debbie’s behavior made a lot more sense. She didn’t _like _it, but she understood it at last. “You’re _scared_,” Lou finished Debbie’s sentence. “You’re scared this is a mistake even now, but you can’t bear for it to be anyone else.”

“Yes,” Debbie said, looking into Lou’s eyes with a sharp recognition of her own vulnerability. “But you know what scared me even more?”

Lou raised her eyebrows, inviting her to go on.

“You,” Debbie said, and the word pierced Lou’s heart. “You saying you would walk. Because this job _doesn’t work without you_, Lou. As soon as Tammy confirmed that Claude was in, I realized what I had done, what I had _kept _from you. I…” She wiped her sleeve roughly across her face. “As soon as you came to find me, I knew this might be it, that—”

“—that you might have failed at the job?”

Debbie stared at Lou, looking confused. “No,” she said, frankly. “No, baby. I knew that everything might be over between _us_. I didn’t care about the stupid job, I…well, I know I acted like an idiot back there…” She gestured vaguely, but Lou knew she was referring to the sardonic and uncaring manner she had displayed on the beach.

“Yeah, you _could _say that,” Lou agreed, more harshly than she meant to.

“But I was scared I ruined _everything _between us, and that would end it all, Lou. It would end this job – it _really _would, believe me – and you _know _what that means because this is the kind of job I always wanted to pull one day – my _dream _job, baby. But none of that compares to how scared I was – how scared I _am _– to lose you…to lose you _again._ I’m not sure…” Debbie swallowed hard. “…I’m not sure I would be who I am without you. In fact, I _know_ I wouldn’t.”

Lou dropped her gaze from Debbie’s for the first time in minutes. She wasn’t quite ready to give in; she needed to be sure. She ached to tell Debbie she loved her, to finally speak the words she had kept to herself for six years, ever since Debbie was arrested and the shock of it had made Lou realize how she felt. But it wasn’t quite time yet. After the job, after everything was settled and quiet…she _would_. Lou waited for Debbie to keep speaking, though she wasn't sure what she wanted to hear. 

Finally, after several agonizing minutes of silence, Debbie took a deep breath and said, “I’m…sorry. I’m _so _sorry, Lou. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you from the beginning.”

Lou closed her eyes as the words came to rest on her ears. “Promise me, Debbie…” Lou heard the strangled nature of her own voice and cleared her throat. “I know you’re scared, but promise me that you’ve done your homework on this, that you won’t end up back in prison.”

Debbie was quiet for another long moment, and Lou’s heart beat fast in her chest. Finally, Debbie spoke in a soft, soothing voice. “Lou…_Lou_…baby, I need you to look at me.” Lou lifted her gaze to Debbie’s and saw once again the tension in her jaw that told her Debbie was about to tell the truth. “I _promise_, baby,” Debbie said. She reached across the table and laid her hand palm-up in front of Lou – an invitation. “I _promise_ that this will work, that everything will be _exactly _as I’ve just told you, down to the second. And I _promise_…No, Lou, you need to look at me…” Lou’s eyes snapped open just before they fluttered closed. “I promise, I _swear_ that after this is over…well, I’ll still be here.” Debbie flashed Lou a small smile as she finished speaking.

Lou chewed on the inside of her lip, dropped her hands to the table, and picked at the skin around her thumbnail. Debbie shifted her hand a fraction of an inch closer to Lou’s anxious fidgeting, and Lou looked down at it. She considered Debbie’s explanations and her promises. There were contingencies that even Debbie Ocean might miss, but that would be the case whether Claude Becker was involved or not. When it came down to it, Lou trusted Debbie even though they both knew that – in this business – a promise only went as far as you planned, and nothing was ever really certain until every loose end was tied in a neat little bow. At long last, Lou slid her hand into Debbie’s and felt warm fingers clench firmly around her knuckles.

“Okay, Debs,” Lou said finally, looking back up at Debbie and registering the tortured expression on Debbie’s face. She felt a spark of guilt at how her words had hurt her, but she pushed away the feeling. Even now, she didn’t regret challenging Debbie and making her explain. She had to stick to her own truth as firmly as Debbie stuck to hers.

Debbie looked at her uncertainly. “Okay…_what_, baby?” she said.

Lou let out her breath in a long sigh and squeezed Debbie’s hand tightly. “I’ll stay,” she said, letting Debbie see the concern that still lived behind her eyes. Debbie nodded once, stood up without releasing Lou’s hand, and leaned across the desk to brush her lips tentatively to Lou’s forehead. Lou tilted her chin upwards and used her free hand to cup the back of Debbie’s neck and pull her close, kissing her properly and feeling Debbie’s lips quiver slightly against her own.

“Thank you,” Debbie said softly when they broke apart. She leaned her forehead against Lou’s and was still except for the gentle sweep of her thumb across the back of Lou’s hand.

“Let’s go home, Jailbird,” Lou said finally, “I’ll take you home.”

“If you have things to finish here, I don’t mind walking back,” Debbie insisted, “_Really_. I know you have a life outside of—”

“No,” Lou said firmly, though she appreciated Debbie’s offer. “I want to take you home. With me.”

Debbie ran her fingers reassuringly through Lou’s hair at the back of her head. “Okay, baby. Okay.”

**

The warmth of Debbie sitting behind her on the bike was almost too much – too much and not enough simultaneously, and by the time Lou pulled up to the loft and parked her bike just inside the warehouse door, her whole body felt like an elastic band waiting to snap. She could still feel the vibration of the bike in her bones as she tugged Debbie by the hand into the loft and up the stairs, not pausing to acknowledge the presence of Tammy, Rose, and Nine Ball – all of whom averted their eyes, giving them as much privacy as was possible. Upstairs, Lou felt Debbie hesitate by the door to her room, and Lou looked over her shoulder at her.

“Come on, Debbie,” Lou said, but Debbie halted in the middle of the corridor and gave her a slightly challenging look.

“Are you sure, baby?” Debbie asked. “I can sleep here tonight; I don’t min—”

“No,” Lou said, “Please, I…” She registered the hard tone of her voice and tried to soften it. “I want you with me, Jailbird.” She squeezed Debbie’s hand and pulled gently. “If that’s okay,” she added. She felt slightly ashamed by how much she dreaded Debbie saying no.

Debbie smiled softly. “I want to be with you, too, baby.” She took a step towards Lou, and Lou felt a wave of relief flow from the gentle pressure of Debbie’s fingers clasped in hers. Lou felt herself blush at Debbie’s admission, hoping against hope that none of the rest of the team were listening in on this conversation. She could hear Tammy’s voice speaking softly down below, and suspected that she was trying to drown them out just enough to keep the others’ attention on her rather than on Debbie and Lou. Lou took a few steps towards her room, feeling her heart beat in her throat as Debbie followed her.

When they reached the true privacy of Lou’s room, Lou shut the door behind them and locked it before turning to look at Debbie, who was standing a little more rigidly than usual just to the side of the door. She took a step towards Debbie and brought their still-entwined fingers to her lips, planting soft kisses over Debbie’s knuckles and the back of the hand. Then, in one smooth movement, Lou pressed Debbie into the wall next to the door and finally released her hand to rest both of her own on either side of Debbie’s head.

“I’m still angry with you,” Lou said. The words were sharp, but her voice was quiet and smooth. “You should have—”

“I should have told you,” Debbie finished the sentence. “I know. I’m sorry. I—”

“Do you know how scared I am to lose you?” Lou asked, cutting her off. “To see you go back to prison?” 

Debbie hesitated and then nodded. “Yes, I think I do,” she said. “I’m scared, too.”

Lou laughed humorlessly and shook her head. “Look at us, huh?” she muttered. Debbie leaned her head back against the wall as tacit agreement flashed across her face. Lou pressed her body even closer to Debbie’s and heard a hiss of breath in response as Debbie’s lips parted.

“Baby…” Debbie murmured, her breath ghosting over Lou’s jaw.

“Mm hmm?”

“I know I get reckless sometimes, but I promise you, that’s _not _going to happen with this job.”

“Do you need to be reminded of what you’ll miss if you get locked up again?” Lou asked, pulling back to look Debbie in the eye.

Debbie smirked. “I don’t _need _to be reminded, baby. I think about it _all the time_.” Lou knew it was an attempt at humor, but she felt a pang nonetheless at the reminder of how much Debbie had suffered, how much it still plagued her mind. Lou dipped her neck to place a soft open-mouthed kiss to Debbie’s cheek. “But I _want _you to remind me,” Debbie continued after a moment, the faintest hint of desperation in her voice.

“_What _do you want, Debbie?” Lou asked, her voice deepening.

“I want you inside me,” Debbie said matter-of-factly. “I want your _cock _inside me.”

Lou pulled away from her again, surprised. It usually took a lot of coaxing for Debbie to ask for something so explicitly. “Are you sure, Debs?” The question sounded almost absurd given the certainty in Debbie’s voice, but something in Lou told her that they both needed an additional confirmation. “It’s been a long time…”

“I’m _sure_, Lou, as long as you want to,” Debbie replied, her voice surprisingly tender given the topic at hand.

“I want to,” Lou murmured quickly, though she hadn’t been sure until a moment ago. The strap-on had turned into a sinister and inauthentic coping mechanism for her during Debbie’s absence, and she hadn’t been ready to face wearing it again, afraid it would trigger that darker side of herself back into existence. Now however, with Debbie _asking _for it, she realized how much she needed to reclaim it. Repressed memories flooded back into her mind – Debbie on her hands and knees with Lou’s hands reaching around to squeeze her breasts, Debbie’s lips closing around the silicone as her fingers sank into Lou, Debbie sitting on her lap and rocking against her with the strap buried inside her and Lou’s face buried in her breasts – straining and warm and close… “_Oh, _I want to,” Lou repeated. Arousal coiled and tugged in her stomach. Nevertheless, her hands shook slightly as she released Debbie from the wall, walked to the dresser, and dug the strap and harness out of the depths of a drawer.

Debbie – ever observant – noticed. “Lou?” she said, a quizzical note in her voice. Lou looked over at her from the dresser. Debbie had undressed herself but for her bra and was now lying on her side in the middle of the bed. “Are _you _sure?” Her brow knitted slightly in concern at the look on Lou’s face.

“I _am_ sure, Debbie,” Lou murmured walking towards her and placing the supplies on the edge of the bed before crawling towards her up the bed. Debbie shifted to lie on her back, and Lou knelt over her, straddling one of Debbie’s legs. “I want this with you…and…” She let out her breath in a shaky sigh.

“What is it, baby?” Debbie asked, running her hands up and down Lou’s arms.

Lou held Debbie’s gaze. “I think I’m just glad you _asked_,” Lou finished simply. Debbie smiled and pulled Lou down into a brief and searing kiss that left Lou feeling light headed when they broke apart.

“Fuck me,” Debbie said against Lou’s skin. The words were like an electric shock, and Lou wasted no more time. Debbie sat up and helped Lou to remove her boxers, then she unfastened her own bra and threw it to the floor as Lou pulled on the harness and adjusted it. There was a thrill of unease at the feeling of the straps against her skin once more, but it vanished as she looked down at herself and then at Debbie. This couldn’t be more different than the hasty, emotionless encounters Lou had experienced during Debbie’s sentence. For one thing, her own nakedness was something she had never allowed herself with those women. For another, this wasn’t some random woman from a club spread out beneath her insisting on calling her “Daddy,” or a mark she had decided to fuck when a job went wrong. It was _Debbie’s_ eyes watching her spread lube over the silicone between her legs, _Debbie’s_ breath coming in short pants of anticipation, _Debbie_ reaching out for Lou – for her girl.

“You’re so beautiful, Jailbird,” Lou murmured, nudging Debbie’s legs apart and reaching for a pillow to slide under Debbie’s hips. Debbie let out a fluttering, whimpering sigh that made Lou smirk. “You _really _want it, don’t you?” she asked, noticing the wetness already glistening between Debbie’s legs. Debbie moaned in response, arching her back, and Lou leaned over her so the hard silicone rubbed an insistent promise over Debbie’s arousal. Debbie’s hips rose off the pillow, rolling towards the tip of the strap, and her eyes looked desperately into Lou’s. “Is this what you missed, Jailbird?” Lou asked, drawing the moment back to where this had all started.

Debbie’s mouth quirked into a smile that turned to a gasp as Lou pressed the length of silicone against her once more. “I missed _this_,” Debbie said breathlessly, “I missed _you_, baby.” Lou smiled in response and leaned down to kiss her briefly, continuing to rock her hips slowly, coating the strap in Debbie’s arousal.

“So wet for me,” Lou murmured as they broke apart, “so _eager _and open. I could probably get four fingers into you _easily_, Debs, do you know that? You’re _so _wet.” Debbie nodded her head frantically, but could only manage a moan as Lou reached between them to position the very tip of the silicone against Debbie’s entrance. “Ask me again, Debbie,” Lou requested firmly, though there was a tremor in her voice that betrayed her own anticipation.

Debbie narrowed her eyes pleadingly and bit her lip. One of her own hands wandered to her chest and began massaging her right breast, rolling the nipple between her fingers as Lou watched. “I want your cock inside me, baby,” Debbie choked out in a strained voice. “I want to remember…” She groaned as Lou pushed forward an inch, and Debbie stretched easily around her. “…want to remember…remember…” She bit her lip again as Lou moved forward another inch, resisting the temptation to bury the strap completely inside her before Debbie finished her sentence. “…remember _you_.”

Lou dipped her head and placed warm, wet kisses over Debbie’s face and neck as she slid forward until their hips met. The pressure against her groin made her heart rate quicken, and she ground her hips against the strap, letting herself take pleasure from it for the first time since before Debbie’s incarceration. She moaned against Debbie’s neck and then pushed herself onto her hands in order to thrust into her again. Debbie’s lips parted, and she whimpered.

Lou remembered purchasing this toy a long time ago at a shop in Queens. She had spent real (though not _honest_) money on it and found something that was engineered to move with the subtle responses of the receiver’s body, allowing the wearer to really _feel _what they were doing. Debbie had blushed and hidden her face in Lou’s coat as Lou had explained the benefits of such a toy, but she had been much less coy later that night when Lou fucked her with it for the first time. Now, as Lou thrust into Debbie again and felt the rippling of Debbie’s muscles travel up the silicone to her own core, she thanked herself for the choice she made all those years before.

Lou gradually increased the speed and depth of her thrusts, egged on by the way Debbie’s wet heat pressed against her every time their bodies collided. She knew her own arousal was dripping onto the sheets beneath them. Debbie was whimpering and moaning with every thrust now, and Lou could feel her thighs trembling. She leaned further over her, connecting their chests and bringing her mouth to the top of Debbie’s shoulder.

“Baby,” Debbie whispered, raggedly. “I’m _so_ close. You’re so good for me…” She threw her head back and cried out as Lou ran a hand up her right thigh and pressed lightly, spreading her legs a little bit further apart. Lou felt Debbie’s muscles beginning to tighten around the silicone, and she kept up the steady rhythm of deep quick thrusts. “F…fuck…_fuck_,” Debbie stammered in a high breathy voice.

“I can feel how wet you are,” Lou murmured, “how tight you are around my cock. Debs, I’m _dripping_ for you. You’re my girl, Jailbird, remember that.” She flicked her tongue along Debbie’s neck and rolled her hips to increase the pressure against and inside her.

“’m gonna come,” Debbie stammered through a gasp. Her legs shuddered as she lifted them around Lou’s hips and pressed her heels into Lou’s lower back. Her hands tangled in the straps of the harness, pulling Lou as deep as she could as her entire body quivered and pulsed. Lou breathed heavily against Debbie’s neck, her own arousal throbbing against Debbie’s core.

Debbie’s body relaxed for a moment, but before Lou could fully register the loosening of Debbie’s hold on her, it had tightened once more. Debbie turned them over in one smooth movement that rolled Lou onto her back with the strap still buried inside Debbie who was now straddling her. Debbie rocked herself slowly and steadily on the silicone, which moved smoothly through her relaxed muscles. She braced one hand firmly on Lou’s hip and reached behind her with the other. Her fingers dipped below the harness, and Lou moaned, throwing her head back against the mattress.

“You _are _dripping, baby,” Debbie said smugly, sinking two fingers into Lou and continuing to thrust herself gently on the strap.

Lou couldn’t speak, still surprised by Debbie’s reversal of their position and so close to her own release that her whole body felt like fire. She groaned as Debbie increased the tempo of both her fingers and her hips. Somewhat to her surprise, Lou felt the tightening of Debbie’s muscles around the strap just as her own tightened around Debbie’s fingers.

“Can you? …again?” Lou managed to ask as she felt herself beginning to crumble.

“Yeah, baby,” Debbie said through a moan, not ceasing her movements.

Seconds later, Debbie quivered around Lou, her fingers curled, and Lou was gone – trembling under Debbie as the sensations crashed over her in wave after wave, drawn out by the roll and twitch of Debbie’s hips and the stroking of her fingers. Debbie collapsed onto Lou’s chest and slipped her fingers out of her, running them up Lou’s side and over her collarbone. Lou opened her mouth eagerly and sucked her own flavor from Debbie’s fingers, and Debbie hummed something that sounded both pleased and sleepy. They lay together – sticky and warm – for several long minutes as their breathing slowed and the last of the aftershocks passed in shivering currents of electricity. Finally, Debbie rolled to the side and slipped off the strap with a small whimper. She undid the straps of the harness and helped Lou slip everything from her legs and onto the floor.

“I think if you asked,” Debbie murmured as she shifted herself to lie on top of Lou once more, tracing lazy patterns on her torso as Lou traced patterns on her back. “I think if you asked, I would end this job right here, right now. And I think…no, I _know_ that I wouldn’t do that for anyone else, not even myself.”

“I appreciate that,” Lou replied, tilting her head up from the pillow to brush her lips against Debbie’s forehead, “but I want to run this job with you. I do. I understand now why you brought _him_ into the mix, and even if I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell me, I get that this isn’t just an asterisk.”

“You mean that?” Debbie asked hopefully, looking up at Lou from under her impossibly long, dark eyelashes.

“Yeah, Jailbird, I do,” Lou said, “Now’s not the time to talk about it, but I _know_ you’ve changed since before. You’re right. You _used_ to be reckless, but this isn’t reckless. I can see that now, even if you can’t.” Debbie leaned up and kissed her, lips soft and clumsy with post-coital exhaustion. Lou kissed back for a long moment, and then held Debbie away with both hands framing her face. “Just promise me you won’t ever hide stuff like this from me again, okay? Promise me that, and I’ll promise to do the same.”

Debbie turned her head and placed a kiss to Lou’s right palm. “I…” She turned her head the other direction and did the same to Lou’s left. “…promise.”

**

Debbie drifted off to sleep that night with her head pillowed on Lou’s shoulder. Lou’s limbs ached slightly from the weight of Debbie’s body on top of her and from the passion they had shared. She couldn’t bring herself to move, though, not when this was fast becoming the sweetest and most poignant moment of her life. She had thought they might break today, thought that they had finally met the end of their attempt to rekindle…whatever this was. But now she realized that she had been spending far too much time looking back wistfully on the past when the thing that really mattered was the future. She wished she could fast-forward through the heist and its aftermath to reach a day where there was nothing but _them_. Because on that day, Lou promised herself, she would finally be able to lay her last card on the table: _I love you_. She thought the words over and over as she watched Debbie’s eyelids flutter and felt the steady rhythm of her slow, deep breathing. _I love you. _

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the song with all the lyrics:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSVHrlmAKJQ
> 
> ***
> 
> Just as with the previous part, I debated on an Explicit rating. Let me know if you think I should change it! 
> 
> I did write a scene for what happens right before this moment in "Sonata for Silence and Two Pairs of Stilettos" (Chapter 3). If you're interested, check it out! It fills in the gap between the beach scene from the film and where this fic picks up. 
> 
> ***
> 
> SERIES NOTE:
> 
> There will be 13 fics in this series, so please please subscribe to/bookmark the series in addition to the individual fics. I'm posting the stories chronologically as they fall in Debbie and Lou's timeline, rather than in the track order from the album. New ones will be posted every Friday. There will be pre-canon, film timeline, and post-canon stuff, and it all fits in with my Loubbie headcanon found in my other non-AU works. I can ONE HUNDRED PERCENT PROMISE that the series will end happily. 
> 
> ***
> 
> My girlfriend, go_get_your_top_hat, deserves the world for being my beta. <3 U
> 
> FOLKS, I finally have Tumblr - @estel-of-irysi. Check it out if that's your thing! Feel free to ask questions, etc. I will keep my inbox open. :) 
> 
> Comments and kudos make me smile. I love each and every one of them. Seriously. Go on, make my day! 
> 
> <3 <3 <3


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